Charlemagne funds knocked by turmoil

The full force of the hedge fund implosion has hit one of London's hottest fund managers, latest figures from St James's-based Charlemagne Capital show.

Charlemagne was floated in 2006 by financier Jim Mellon. That put the spotlight on its publicity-shy £1.3 million-a-year chief executive Jayne Sutcliffe, a long-time colleague of Mellon whose stake in the business was valued at more than £50 million.

With Charlemagne's emerging markets strategy battered by the downturn, Charlemagne today admitted its assets under management have collapsed from $5.5 billion at the start of 2008 to just $2.2 billion while the income in the year from the "performance" fees it charges have fallen to $3.5 million from last year's $84 million.

From briefly touching more than £1 a share, Charlemagne's shares were today marooned at just 9.25p a share, valuing Sutcliffe's stake at £2.8 million.

The price collapse has also hurt Mellon, who owns 20% of the business and trusts of the late Sir John Templeton.